I like to lift heavy things, make colorful food, write, and talk about pop culture.

Vote Against Hate

I am postponing my beach adventures because I have something to say. A month from today, we will know the results of the 2016 Presidential Race. Less than a month from today, we have an opportunity that so many countries in the world do not: we get to vote to decide who we elect president. I have supported Hillary’s campaign since back in the 2008 election, but even if you do not love her, even if you don’t fully support her, she is our one hope to ensure that change and progress continue to be made in this country.

Hillary is a politician influenced by the barriers that her political party defines her as, just like so many others. If you do not like it, continue to vote, continue to promote change, and demand action, but remember, this will not happen over night. That passion that is stirred in you from Bernie Sanders or any other politician you might support who does not have a voice because he or she is not a Democrat or a Republican, stoke it, speak out for it, let it drive you to vote, in big elections and in small, and keep going until actual progress is made. If Donald Trump is elected President, that passion faces obstacles that are unimaginable. If Hillary Clinton is elected President, we have a chance.

Who is this we that I speak of?

Women, gays, Latinos, blacks, and all of these other “minorities” whose voices have, until now, been historically quieted.

I am going to be 27 years old one month from today. I will either be crying on my birthday because we have elected our first female President or I will be crying for what we have allowed our country to become.

I am a woman who never believed herself to be lesser or beneath a man based on gender. I am lucky because I was raised by strong, independent, open-minded women and men who never doubted me or confined me based on my gender and the expectations that society provides for me. That I am a Master’s educated independent woman is thanks to both my mom and dad’s influences and I have never been more grateful to them than I am today.

My grandmothers, grandfather, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, sister, brother, cousins, friends, teachers, bosses, coworkers, helped to raise me up with kindness, passion, respect, and love. That this is not universal, especially in this country, once shocked me. Now I have acknowledged what is happening outside of my sphere and am using my power to spread the wealth.

I am entering a professional field that is male in majority, but I am not intimidated. I am a heck of a writer and I will keep writing and keep pushing until I reach my goals. If I do not succeed, it will not be because I am a woman and I allowed men to stop me. In the weight room, more often than not, I am the strongest person lifting. Our bodies may have different limitations, but you cannot say that I am “strong for a girl.” I am “strong” because I work for it. Donald Trump would call me fat and ugly and weak, but because of the person I am, thanks to the people who love me, I would laugh in his face.

Women, as are men, are amazing and made up all different characteristics and qualities that make us human. That we have inner and outer beauty is incredible. Do not let this weak-minded man deter you from this belief.

Equality for all seems such a simple expression, but people let fear into their hearts and it drives them to build walls and boundaries, to bring people down in order to heighten their own selves, to turn to violence and hate instead of respect and love. Such a pathetic notion and yet, so powerful and present.

This morning, I lay in bed scrolling through the news with tears in my eyes. Donald Trump’s words did not surprise me. They do little to deter the people who are already voting for him because unfortunately, they love this about him. To me, and I understand many might disagree, he defines what is worst about this country. That he is so close to being voted in as President is abysmal and disheartening. But I will vote against him and I will continue to make my voice heard.

Language is as effective as the meaning behind it. It’s unsavory hearing him call a woman’s genitals “pussy,” but mostly, I’m offended that he thinks he holds the power over this woman to “grab it” and make it his own because he is famous and he is a white man. Rape and sexual harassment are sensitive and pressing issues in this country, as are race and immigration, and no matter your politics or your beliefs, the way that he takes pride in parading around, speaking in such vulgarities is disgusting.

We have a choice, one month from yesterday, to elect the most experienced presidential candidate that this nation has ever seen or we can vote in a person with dictatorship qualities we have all been warned about in our studies, that we all thought we would never support if ever an incidence presented itself.

Democrat or Republican, I don’t care. I’m as fed up with the political party system as many are. Donald Trump is not a Republican. He’s a loud, white man who is afraid of difference and gets off on putting people down. He is doing exactly what it is he said he is: grabbing this country by the pussy and having his way with us. Are we going to stand by and let it happen or are we going to call him out as the harasser he is and put a stop to it?